RISKY ECONOMIES The chart shows credit-risk ratings produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist. Russia remains the riskiest of the countries in the chart. In the fourth quarter of 1996, its combined economic and political risks scored 75 on the EIU scale (the maximum is 100). The EIU reckons that it is safer to invest in Russia than it was at the beginning of 1996, when the country's rating was 90, but it is still far more cautious than other rating agencies about Russia. Among emerging economies, the EIU deems those of East Asia to be among the safest in which to invest: they account for five of the seven safest countries in the chart.